Tell me about your personalized autographed book.

@rpm_pseud0name : It’s good to see you.

I did not receive my autographed book directly from meeting the author. Still, a dear friend gave me a signed copy of Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. The writer is a famous recluse, so having his signature in the front of the book is a real treasure. It won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1974.

I met Carl Reiner when I was a kid and he was signing his biography at some book store. I don’t even have the autograph anymore, but it was wonderful to have been able to meet him and shake his hand.
:-p

I have a signed copy of Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen.
We read the book in my seventh grade English class, and even had him come to our school for a day. A lot of us had him sign our copy of the book.
It’s one of the few things that I kept when I was moving around a lot, a few years back.

Back in 1977 or so, I bought a copy of 7 time Mr. Universe Arnold Schwartzennegger’s “Education of a Bodybuilder” in San Francisco. This was before he did most of the movies. I think he had done a Conan at this point. I stood in a long line to get him to sign it. Really, this line was very long! When I got to him, he asked my name, and wrote a nice message to me, before signing his name very legibly. I was amazed.
I looked at him, and said “With all that writing, I am surprised you don’t get a cramp!”
“Cramp? What is cramp?” he said.
“Um, like muscle knots…”
He raised his hands, in the way a body builder does, and said “Ah, yes! Many cramps today!”

So, I taught Arnold Schwartzennegger the meaning of the word Cramp.

I have one book actually signed by the author, with whom I am sort of aquainted. I value it.

I have two books that are signed by the author, and I’ve gotten one book signed. The two books I have are A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz, which I got as a Christmas gift, and discovered upon opening it that it was a signed copy. The second book is a book my great-grandmother wrote. It was signed to a relative, and I inherited the copy upon said relative’s death.

The book I got signed was Zoo Story, a play by Edward Albee. No anecdote there, and the book was a gift for a friend.

I have a few, but my favorite is my copy of When You are Engulfed in Flames signed by David Sedaris. The signing was at The Strand. He did some excellent and hilarious readings from his upcoming work, and then did the signing. When I came up I told him that his story in Me Talk Pretty One Day about having Tourette’s was wonderful to read because it captured the experience so perfectly. He said, “Oh, are you a twitchy person too?”, and I giggled and said yes. I asked him to sign Engulfed for me and Holidays on Ice for my parents. He was so sweet – he asked their names so he could personalize it, and wrote “It was a pleasure to meet your kind daughter!”

Needless to say, I was thrilled.

I asked Orson Scott Card to sign every book of his that I owned. I owned about a dozen. He did. And while he did, we had a very nice conversation. Well, I checked. Actually, I have 22 signed copies of his books.

Which is funny because later on I learned he’s not that nice of a person, politically speaking. I think he’s also still a Mormon. But I loved his novels at the time. He was the author I admired the most, I think.

I also just discovered that I have signed copies of “The Game of Thrones” and “A Storm of Swords.” One hard copy and one soft. I’m not sure I believe it. I wonder what those might be worth now.

I have 59 total signed books. 21 unique authors. Most of them were signed to me personally. Ah memories.

I have 3 books signed personally to me, all from the same author. William Hoffer isn’t very well known, but his books are… he’s one of those writers who writes ‘with’ (for) the actual (non-author) person(s) involved in a high profile true story. Probably his most famous book is Midnight Express, which is better known as the movie made from it in the 70s, (adapted by Oliver Stone.) Sadly, I don’t have a copy of that one.

I have signed copies of Not Without My Daughter, a story about a woman whose ex-husband kidnapped their child (also made into a movie starring Sally Field), His Name was Ron, which is the story of the OJ Simpson/Ron Goldman murder case (written ‘with’ Ron’s family), and Torn From My Heart, another stolen child story. All were given to me as gifts. The stories are interesting, but the writing isn’t all that great, to be honest.

Hoffer is the father of one of my old friends, and that’s how I’m acquainted with him. I’ve only met him in person once (at my friend’s wedding), but have spoken to him on the phone a couple of times and he seems nice enough.